National Geographic veteran Steve Winter’s famous photo of a California cougar named P22 with the Hollywood sign in the background.
Photograph: Steve Winter/National Geographic

When news broke that 21st Century Fox expanded its partnership with National Geographic Society to form a for-profit joint venture, many people exploded with vitriol over Rupert Murdoch’s potential influence over a scientific institution largely held sacred.

Conservation will be key in the takeover of National Geographic

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Some contributors who produce the photographs and stories behind the magazine’s eminent reputation are tentatively hopeful the move will replenish a shallow pool of funding for expensive and ambitious expeditions – but they’re willing to walk if there’s any perceived change in organization policy.

Brian Skerry, who has photographed marine wildlife and underwater environments for National Geographic magazine for nearly 18 years, admits he and others were stunned to hear about the financial restructuring that gives 21st Century Fox a 73% share in the now for-profit venture National Geographic Partners.

“I think everybody has some concerns and nobody is quite sure what it means,” he said. “I can only speak for myself, but I believe we were all thinking the same thing. National Geographic has been autonomous … pretty much forever. It came as a huge surprise.”

Skerry applauded National Geographic’s leadership for dispelling the initial surge of fear during a meeting with the Photo Advisory Board, an elected body that represents photographers who work with the magazine.

But, he added: “The integrity of the staff and contributors is above reproach. We aren’t the kind of people to do what we don’t want to do. If things went south, we wouldn’t work here anymore. If we were told to dumb down the science, I don’t think that’s going to fly.”

Another longstanding contributor to the magazine, John Stanmeyer, participated in an hour-long conference call on 11 September with heads of the magazine and colleagues.

“The call was to share layered insight into what the merger of NG and Fox means, not only for those of us who work for the magazine, what it also means for all of us who believe in the greater purpose of communication, science, exploration, photography and yes, the integrity/ethics of this venerable 127-year institution we believe in,” Stanmeyer wrote on his Facebook page.

“In brief,” he said, “little to nothing is going to change.”

And most importantly for those concerned that Rupert Murdoch, a known climate change skeptic, could jeopardize the magazine’s commitment to journalistic integrity, Stanmeyer said editorial content “will be driven by the National Geographic Society. No other entity”.

He didn’t assuage all 6,300 of his followers.

Dave Edwards wrote: “I will not be renewing my subscription, I find this highly repulsive. Quite honestly, Rupert Murdoch is inherently evil, as are his ‘news’ organizations, which are dedicated to far-right blasphemy and propaganda. To think or say he does not have an agenda for NG is naive at best, and intellectually dishonest at worst.”

A reader with copies of National Geographic and Nat Geo Traveler at a newsstand in New York. Photograph: Richard Levine/Demotix/Corbis

Another veteran National Geographic photographer, Steve Winter, has reason to support the new arrangement.

“For what I do as a natural history photographer, I rely on the budget of the magazine, I rely on the expeditions council for grants to do my projects,” he said. “I photograph big cats. I couldn’t do it without these grants.”

It took 15 months for Winter to capture what has become a famous photograph of the California cougar, fondly named P22, with the Hollywood sign in the background. He said in a video for National Geographic the mountain lion is stuck in Griffith Park because of enormous amounts of freeway traffic.

Winter says the image helped spark the conversation leading to the proposed urban wildlife corridor over 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, which would be the largest in the world if built.

Former journalist and professor of communication at American University, W Joseph Campbell, called news of the merger “eye-opening”.

“National Geographic has been such an institution for so many years – it came as a bit of a surprise. Of course there were problems with circulation and advertising, problems endemic to print at large. It remains to be seen what Fox will do to it.”

Campbell concedes that Murdoch has not “dumbed down” every property he has acquired.

“When he bought the Wall Street Journal there was a huge uproar, but under the ownership of Murdoch, the Wall Street Journal has become far stronger than before it was sold.”

“There are examples of both sides of the ledger,” he said.

Murdoch also acquired the New York Sun and the News of the World, both of which he took “down market”, according to Campbell.

News of the World was forced to shut its doors in 2011 following the infamous phone hacking scandal, which Campbell says Murdoch managed somehow to sidestep.

“He is a wily guy and unpredictable,” he said. “An opportunist.”

Responding to clarification that Murdoch’s son James is now CEO of 21st Century Fox, Campbell notes Murdoch is still bound to exert some control while the family sorts through an ongoing “melodrama” over who will succeed him.

He adds, though, that his sons are not “carbon copies of their father”.

Declan Moore, who was crowned CEO of National Geographic Partners, acknowledges criticism that some of the programming that has emerged from National Geographic in past years has diverged from the magazine’s notoriously high standards.

“There’s no doubt some of the brand has been out of sync with the published page and Instagram feed,” he said.

But he is emphatic that he and other veterans of the society are committed to expanding the journalism, regardless of the platform, to uphold what he considers the brand’s three pillars: stunning visuals, factually accurate reporting and a compelling narrative.

James Murdoch is eager to alleviate concerns that Fox will spoil National Geographic’s hard-earned legacy.

“I also want to assure you that we will remain fully committed to maintaining the editorial autonomy and integrity of the Geographic,” he said at a closed-door meeting he hosted on 9 September with Gary Knell, president of National Geographic Society.

“We demonstrated that strong commitment and respect for what National Geographic stands for during our 18-year partnership, and nothing we are announcing today changes that.”

In a prepared statement, president of the Environmental Defense Fund Fred Krupp defended Fox’s environmental record under the younger Murdoch’s leadership.

“21st Century Fox has made a serious commitment to sustainability. In 2007 the company committed to becoming carbon neutral, and in 2011 I was delighted to attend an event in London where James Murdoch announced it had reached that goal. The company also engaged EDF’s Climate Corps fellows every year from 2010 to 2013 to help save energy and reduce emissions.”

The National Geographic endowment, which will remain a nonprofit entity that raises funds through its development arm and philanthropy, will have access to roughly one third of the new revenue stream generated by National Geographic Partners, according to Moore.

For photographers like Skerry, who have been wondering which year would be the magazine’s last, nearly doubling the endowment so critical to research expeditions is a lifeline.

“Print media is a volatile business,” he said. “Subscription and ad revenue have withered through attrition.”

Skerry said he is waiting to see what Murdoch will do but the “proof is in the pudding”.

“I told my wife I would rather see National Geographic [magazine] die an honorable death than be swept into something it’s not supposed to be,” Skerry said.

“But if the new 21st Century model will take the work we have always done to new people in new places and new ways, then we should be celebrating.”